


Uncontrolled Conditions

by theunknownfate



Category: Watchmen - All Media Types
Genre: Kink Meme, Kissing, M/M, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-31
Updated: 2014-01-31
Packaged: 2018-01-10 17:32:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1162539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theunknownfate/pseuds/theunknownfate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a kinkmeme prompt. Rorschach goes missing after being bitten by a strange animal. When he shows up again, he isn't the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Missing

Dan turned the pages of the journal with shaking hands. He would never have dared to do this, even if he had found it dropped on Archie's floor. He had found it in an alley though, with Rorschach's mask, puddles of blood, and a shredded trench coat. A block away he had found a shoe and some scraps of purple fabric. He hadn't found the hat, which gave him a ridiculous hope that his former partner was still alive somewhere. The mask hadn't been damaged, just flung aside. If some street punks had finally taken Rorschach down, surely they would've kept the mask as a trophy. And the journal, they wouldn't have left that. 

There had been so much blood. More blood than one human could hold. Much more than one could lose and live. Dan had collected as many pieces as he could find, telling himself that Rorschach would want them when he reappeared. He hadn't shown though, and Dan's investigating hadn't turned up any information on him. Not that it ever did. There wasn't any word about him on the street. Dan had even used some of Rorschach's own methods of research, but no amount of threats or pain had turned up anything. Finally, desperation had sent him to the journal. If Rorschach had been on to something, there might be some clue of it in later entries. 

He would only look at the last few pages, he told himself. Just skim, just see if there's anything that would give him something to go on. He took a deep breath, gave the windows one last check (because if Rorschach was going to show up, it would probably be in time to catch me reading his diary...) and opened it from the end. He had to flip in to find the last entry. 

_The streetlights are bothering me. Seem tainted and yellow. Make my flesh crawl where they touch me. Unwholesome, urine-colored, seeping through clothing. Something has been itching under my skin since the bite on my arm healed. No luck yet investigating the local companies and animal testing labs to find out what could've mutated that creature into such a monster. No leads yet. Constantly hungry. Affecting productivity. Eating doesn't help. Nothing has any taste._

Oh my God, Dan thought. Was he sick? An infected bite could make him feverish, delusional, but it wouldn't rip his clothes off and splash his blood for ten feet in all directions.

_Everything annoying. The noise of the city suddenly deafening. Lived here all my life. The collective stink of all the garbage and filth is choking. Neighbors seemed less like people and more like vermin crawling on the gray hide of the city, parasites eating their way in and befouling everything they touch. Can't stand it. Can't stand to be still. Even writing has regressed to angry scribbling._

_Something's happening to me. Can feel it rising in me like floodwaters. Won't be able to contain it much longer._

What had been wrong with him? What had happened to him? Dan refastened the journal and went to suit up. The only clue he could think of were the animal testing labs. Maybe the City Power if he was harboring suspicions about the street lights. Rorschach would've come back for the mask and journal if he was able. Something had to have happened to him. Maybe he was in a hospital somewhere! Without his mask or any identification, he might just be a John Doe in a hospital bed! Or a morgue slab. Would it do any good to go look? It's not like Dan would recognize him without his mask anyway. He couldn't not go look though. He had to do something.

It had been too long since he had put the suit on. It was snug. Struggling into it was noisy enough that he didn't hear the sound from the tunnel until all the armor was on. It was a raspy, shuffling sound. He adjusted his goggles quickly and saw a blur of heat against one of the walls. No one else knew the way down here. No one else had any reason to come.

"Rorschach?" he called and heard his own name echoed back. His real name. He broke into a run and found Rorschach half-staggering, half crawling down the tunnel toward the nest. He was naked except for a thick layer of dried blood. 

"Daniel," he said again, keeping his head ducked as Dan slid an arm around him to try to lift him. "Feel much better now."


	2. Cursed

Half an hour in the shower had made Rorschach recognizable again. Dan was relieved to see that he wasn't injured. He didn't seem to have a mark on him except for a recent scar on his arm. It did look like an animal bite. He dug out some spare clothes for Rorschach to wear, returned the mask and journal, and parked him in a kitchen chair in front of a mug of coffee.

"All right," he said for what was probably the seventh time. "Ok, tell me what happened. If all that blood wasn't yours, whose was it?"

Rorschach looked at him and then held up his arm to show the scar.

"Thought it was a big dog," he said. "It wasn't."

"All right," Dan said one more time. He wasn't quite prepared to let on that he had read the last page of the journal. "What was it?" Rorschach looked at him again, and put the arm down. He started to speak, but became very interested in the handle of his mug. He looked up at Dan and down again three more times before he forced the word out.

"Contagious."

"What?"

"Cursed." He took a deep breath and glared at Dan as if daring him to laugh. "Werewolf."

Dan didn't laugh. Or blink. He just sat there, looking at his former partner for a long moment in which Rorschach got more and more antsy.

"All right," Dan said again. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I honestly have to ask." Rorschach nodded reluctantly. "Would you mind if I took your temperature? Just for my own peace of mind."

"Fever broke the night I changed, Daniel." Rorschach almost sighed. "Woke up feeling fine, but covered in blood. No clothes, no face, but I was home. Hoped no one had seen."

"Whose blood was it?"

"Remember being shouted out that night. Someone threw a bottle at me. Might've been them. Don't remember. Too hot, too loud to think. Too much inside. Had to tear myself open to let it out." He was quiet, hooking his fingers through the mug handle and scooting it closer to him. "Next night was worse. Last night."

"So that would be the blood we just washed off?" Dan asked. Rorschach nodded. His shoulders slumped and he pushed the mug away again. 

"Wasn't hungry anymore when I woke up today," he said miserably. "First time in weeks. Police in my building. Landlady dead. Ripped apart. Kids all missing. Daniel...? Might have eaten them."

"Stop right there," Dan half stood. "Ok. You've been through something nasty, that's obvious, but you can't really tell me you think you ate somebody's kids..."

"Came to you for help," Rorschach said, also standing. "Last night of the full moon. Have to find somewhere to put me so you can see what happens, and if I'm right, you have to kill me."

"Whoa there, man." Dan put his hands up. "I'm not killing anybody."

"Killed the thing by throwing it in front of train. Can do the same to myself if you won't help."

"............You're serious, aren't you." It wasn't a question. Rorschach would never threaten anything if he didn't intend to do it. 

"Can be at the train yard before dark. The 907 should be approaching by then." He had given this some thought. He honestly believed it, Dan realized. Which meant there was only one thing he could do.

"Fine," he said. "Where do you want to do this?" Relief went through Rorschach's frame. He slumped back into his chair. 

"Unfinished elevator shaft," he said. "Construction site by the waterfront. Too deep to climb out of. Can land Archie on top, lower me down, watch with night vision."

"And what if nothing happens?"

"...Don't want to end up like Mothman. May still ask you to kill me."

Dan shushed him, but they suited up and headed out anyway. Since it was still daylight they decided to leave Archie hidden and head to the site on foot. Rorschach protested, wanting Dan to have an escape plan just in case he managed to claw his way out of the shaft. Dan was struck again by how serious he was, but promised that he wouldn't take any chances if things went south. Rorschach used the grappling gun to lower himself to the bottom of the shaft, where he sat in the floor to wait for the moon to rise. Dan sat on top, looking down. It was about six stories, the unfinished doors, marked but still sealed. He had sent a walkie-talkie down too and attempted some conversation to pass the time. Rorschach wasn't interested. 

Evening fell over the city. _Thud_ , he thought, giving in to a bored smile. Neon flickered to life all over the skyline. The tide changed, sending a wave of smell over the waterfront. Behind a building, he saw the first edge of the moon beginning to rise. It was outshone by all the man-made light below, looking pale and weak, but climbing just the same.

"How are you doing down there?" he called, not bothering to use the walkie-talkie. He looked down and realized Rorschach was staring up at him. The shaft was in darkness now, but he could still see the eyes. He had taken off his mask, Dan realized and that gave him a chill. "Rorschach?" he asked into the walkie-talkie. All he heard was labored breathing. He adjusted the goggles for a better look, leaning over the edge. "Tell me if you're ok, man."

"Smell you," the voice growled out of the depths and a touch of fear sprang to life in the pit of his stomach. 

"Yeah?" he called back, keeping his voice as steady as possible. He saw Rorschach quiver and clutch his hands to his head. "Does it hurt? Tell me what's going on."

"Burns. Like bite." He folded over, holding his stomach this time. "Daniel..." 

"Don't fight it," Dan had no idea what he was advising, but the need to say something helpful was warring with his uncertainties. "Controlled conditions, remember? Let 'er rip. Let's see this for what it is."

He heard a groan that rose into a yowl. He saw Rorschach back up against the wall, panting. He screamed again, tearing at his clothes and ripping at his skin when that was gone. Dan watched as a recognizable human tore itself into a blur and the blur reshaped itself into something else. Through the walkie-talkie, he could hear flesh tearing, bones creaking, blood splattering, and over it all the growling and groaning of pain. By the time, the moon was high enough to shine down the shaft, the thing at the bottom didn't bear any resemblance to Rorschach. Or a dog. 

It was huge, and red and every time it moved, it left furrows in the new cinder block. The thing had claws and teeth and it stared at him from 60 feet below. 

"Rorschach?" he called again, the vocal equivelant of a pinch in a dream. The thing at the bottom of the shaft leaped at him, making it nearly to the third floor before it slid back down, leaving row after row of claw marks. It tried again and again while the hours passed and Dan made mental lines on the wall. When the claw marks reached those, he would leave. They came close a few times, and he tensed to run, but eventually, the moon sank back behind the skyscrapers. The claws sank back into bloodied fingernails, and the creature sank back into a man. 

"I'm coming down for you," Dan said. Rorschach shook his head, folding in on himself.


	3. Contagious

They made it back to Dan's house before the sun rose. Rorschach didn't even put his mask back on. 

"You saw," he said. "You know now."

"I did see," Dan said. He caught himself trying not to look directly at Rorschach’s face. “But I don’t know anything.” Rorschach choked at that and bit back a word that was probably ‘idiot’. Before he could lose his temper, Dan help up a hand. “There’s more we need to find out before we decide what to do.”

“What to do?” Rorschach squinted at him as if that should be obvious. “You have to kill me. Can’t be allowed to kill more innocents. Can’t be allowed to spread this to someone else.”

“All right, hold on.” Dan had both hands up now. “That’s what I mean. We don’t know if you really killed anyone. We don’t know if you can spread it. We’re not even sure what the best way to kill you is, if and I mean _**if**_ , it becomes necessary. What I don’t want to happen is you doing something crazy without thinking about the consequences. We have a month!” he said quickly as Rorschach drew breath to argue. “You said you wanted help. I don’t consider pushing you in front of a train helpful. Give me some time. We need to do some tests. See if there is something contagious about it. See if it really is the moon that does it, and what if the other parts of the legend are true? Like… like silver. Fair enough?”

Rorschach considered this carefully. Finally, he nodded.

They spent the rest of that month doing tests on Rorschach’s blood and saliva. Rorschach was adamant about not involving any one else. Veidt would try to patent it, he argued, and Manhattan’s government connections risked having it being used as some sort of biologic weapon. Visions of Veidt brand plush werewolves dancing in his head, Dan couldn’t argue. 

It was an awkward, tense time for both of them. Rorschach refused to put his mask back on, as if he wasn’t worthy of it anymore. It took some getting used to. And Rorschach had to get used to all the handling involved. Dan did his best not to enjoy it. He couldn’t help but like the company. Rorschach refused to leave his house at all. He was a little ashamed of how much he enjoyed being able to touch his partner, even if it was just to draw blood. One thing that was definite was Rorschach’s appetite. He ate constantly, and he ate anything. 

When they finally got a test result they were sure of, Dan had to admit that Rorschach’s saliva did carry a contagion that affected fresh blood samples. Rorschach wilted visibly. 

“Can’t be allowed to spread it,” he said.

“Don’t worry yet.” Dan tried to comfort him. He had checked it five times before even mentioning it, hoping Rorschach wouldn’t turn immediately to suicide. “It’s bloodborne, yes, but as long as you don’t lick open wounds, it should be fine. You can even kiss people.”

“Can’t be sure.”

“I’m sure, Rorschach,” he sighed. Unconvinced, Rorschach’s palms slammed down on the desk, rattling the samples. 

“How sure can you be when-” He was cut off when Dan leaned in quick as a snake and kissed him. While Rorschach nearly fell over backwards to get away from him, Dan went back to the list of readings. 

“That’s how sure,” he said, ignoring the sputtering. “Now let's get started on the blood.”

Another two weeks of testing established that Rorschach’s blood did react to silver. At Rorschach’s insistence, and remembering how close the claw marks had come up the side of the shaft, Dan worked on a way to make a lethal injection of the silver. His view of the effect it had on Rorschach’s blood under a microscope made him doubt he could ever use it, but as the full moon got closer, Rorschach became more and more obsessed with Dan finishing a syringe full.

“I’m not going to use this on you,” he finally said.

“Full moon in three days!” Rorschach snarled. He had a sandwich in each hand and his mouth was full. “You have to have it ready by then!”

“I’d like to test something else this month.” His voice didn’t betray how anxious he was to have an alternative, any alternative, to putting Rorschach down like a mad dog. There had to be another way. One that didn’t involve a massive dose of silver eating its way through Rorschach’s body like bright acid.

“Too dangerous.”

“If you can eat like this _now_ ,” Dan said, nodding toward the empty bread bags and peanut butter jars on the table. “You must be out of your mind with hunger when you change.”

“That’s _why_ it’s too dangerous, Daniel.”

“How dangerous would you be if you weren’t hungry?” Dan asked. “There’s an empty reservoir tank by the old refinery. Ten inch steel on all sides and fifty feet deep. We have three days. You start eating now and don’t stop until we put you down there with a few sides of beef.”

Rorschach was staring at him like he’d lost his mind. Even the kiss hadn’t gotten such a look. 

“Maybe,” Dan went on bravely. “If you’re full, or at least not starving, you’ll be calmer. Maybe you’ll be able to think clearly. Maybe instead of a killing rage, it’s just a feeding frenzy.”

“…Dangerous.” Rorschach said again, but there was reluctant hope under it. Dan grinned. 

“So?”


	4. Consequencess

The afternoon of the full moon, things went wrong. 

They had gone to the tank with a load of meat. Dan had been getting it ready while Rorschach paced. Maybe it was the scent of the raw meat, maybe it was the rising moon, but Rorschach couldn’t stand it. He had grabbed Dan and tried to force him up the ladder, snarling about delaying the inevitable. Dan had fought back, shouting about what had happened to never giving up or surrendering.

They had grappled and the old ladder had pulled free from the wall, dropping them both several feet and raining broken metal down on their heads. Dan had landed on one knee with a painful crunch and Rorschach had landed on top of him. They bickered and insulted each other for a moment before the situation started to sink in. The ladder could be fixed, but not quickly. The moon would be up before then. The grapnel gun had been left in Archie. The hard truth was that they were trapped in here together. Rorschach realized it first. He took a deep, shaky breath.

"Kill me now, before I change,” he said. 

"No." Dan shook his head, fighting down his own first wave of fear. 

"I'll kill you,” Rorschach said, a frightening crack in his voice. “The armor won't stop me. I'll tear you open and eat you. And when you're gone, there will be no one left! No one that matters! Kill me first."

"No."

"You have to! Must understand that you have to!"

"I won't."

"Daniel...!" Rorschach’s voice rose to a roar and then Dan’s hands folded around his face, holding him still and forcing him to look up into his eyes.

"Listen to us," Dan said. "You would rather I killed you to save myself, and I would rather be eaten than watch you die the way this stuff will kill you. Neither is acceptable." Rorschach hung his head. 

"Should be you that lives…” he whispered. “Monster now. No other life but this. No one to wonder why but you and you'll already know. Better that way."

"Who do you think I have?” Dan almost laughed. “What life that you think is so worth dying for? I'm alone as you are. I won't be missed either."

"Don't want to wake up soaked in your blood, Daniel. Don't want to find pieces of armor scattered around. Don't want you to see me... be afraid of me or hurt by me... Don't want to lose only friend."

"...Maybe…” Dan leaned so that their foreheads touched. Rorschach was too upset to pull away. “Maybe we won't have to..."

"Can't stop when it happens! Can't think. Can't see. Won't know you."

"Maybe..."

"I won't know you!" Rorschach screamed like that was the worst thing that could happen. To be something so removed that he wouldn't know the only person he cared about, something so awful that it would destroy that person without a thought. 

"...if you bite me now..." Dan went on. Rorschach stopped, staring at him. "When the moon comes up, won't we both change? Wolves hunt together. So can we."

"No," it was Rorschach's turn to say it. "Won't. Insane. Won't curse you with this."

"I don't want to be alone either."

"Still human, still good. Can't take that from you." He tried to pull out of Dan's hands, look anywhere but his partner's intense stare. Dan just leaned in closer.

"Take me with you."

"Can't! Can't hurt you that way!"

"It's not the bite that does it, remember? The bite just opens the way to the blood stream. You don't have to hurt me." Rorschach was staring at him.

Dan sucked in his own bottom lip and bit down carefully. It hurt and he winced, but clenched his teeth together, feeling the slippery skin on the inside of his lip finally part and the blood well up. Rorschach inhaled hard, smelling it. Dan kissed him, gently at first, pressing the bloody lip against his mouth. Rorschach's whole body clenched. He refused to move, no matter the smell of the blood, the smell of Dan, the feel of the kiss, but then Dan's tongue flicked in between his lips. Coppery sweetness came with it, making him gasp. His own tongue couldn't help but seek out the source of the taste, nursing the small wound for more. Dan let him, feeling a burn as Rorschach's saliva mixed with his blood.

The burning sensation spread through his jaw like venom, becoming more painful when it got to his neck and poured into the vein there. Maybe this wouldn't work, maybe he'd still die when the moon rose, but a shaking hand was holding him close enough that he could relax his own grip and the kiss had moved beyond the taste of blood. Clothing and armor was peeled off, half in anticipation of the change, half just for contact. 

He could sense the relief pouring off Rorschach, and the shame he felt at that relief. Words hadn’t been able to reassure him, so Dan kept up a steady flow of touches and nuzzles. He was becoming vaguely aware of the moon rising. Maybe he was only sensing Rorschach’s anticipation, or maybe the contagion had already affected him enough that he could feel it coming. Maybe that should’ve scared him, but it was too late now, even it if had. Partners, packmates, it all ran together in his head. It was running in his blood too, and carried with it the promise of never being alone again.


End file.
